Bolt Fashion
by White Angel of Auralon
Summary: Harry Potter knows that money can give you power and influence. He has learned that from a young age on, seeing how his relatives get away with many things. And others having way much more than you do can be a problem. Thus he starts his path to cause a small revolution in its own right. No matter if Dumbledore doesn't like it. Two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everybody, merry Christmas. Here is my two-shot for this year's Christmas. As always, I don't own Harry Potter, just this litte idea. Happy reading.**

* * *

 **Bolt Fashion**

 **Chapter One**

Harry Potter was a pragmatic boy. He had grown up being bullied by his cousin, screamed at by his aunt and often beaten by his uncle when he was in a bad mood or drunk. He knew that the world wasn't good and that being a good boy didn't help you in any way. Being sneaky and underhanded helped preventing harm though. Money allowed you to buy things that could make your life easier. As long as nobody knew you had the money, you could use it in whatever way you wanted. If they knew, you had to look out who wanted to use you for it, but it also gave you power. He had seen how respect often was given to those that had a lot of money. Because of that Harry wanted to have a lot of money. And even more that nobody knew about.

He had learned early on that getting money the right way, by working for it, didn't do him any good, as the money was always confiscated by his uncle, supposedly to pay for his keep. Therefore, Harry stopped doing chores around the neighbourhood, as he wanted the money for himself, not his bastards of relatives. He looked into other ways of earning money. He didn't want to sink as low as Dudley and threaten other people. That would only cause trouble for him, as he didn't have a powerful backer that could get him out of trouble countless times. Being obviously bad wasn't a good thing otherwise. Dudley had his Dad to get him out of many punishments. He was high-ranking in his company and many people in the neighbourhood had to work for him, therefore they never said a word against him.

One of his maths lessons helped him find a way to save his money better than before. The maths teacher explained in basic terms how banks worked. Harry asked a few innocent questions after class how one would go about opening a savings account and got the information he needed. He would need the permission of his aunt or uncle as his guardians. Harry knew that if they knew about the account, they would still take his money from him. Therefore, they couldn't find out that he had that account. Harry had overheard the librarian talk about having opened an account for her goddaughter at a bank in London by post.

Harry had got all the information he needed from a school trip to see a museum in London, as there was a branch of a bank that didn't have branches in Little Whinging, next to the museum. When his teachers didn't look at him, he sneaked out and got all the pamphlets and opening documents about savings accounts and other types of accounts that helped you save up money. He had filled out the form to open an account and had borrowed a sample of his aunt's signature to copy it. He had sent in the form and asked for information how you could put money into them, even if you weren't living at the city where the next branch was. Of course in the name of his aunt. It wouldn't work as well as he had hoped, for example he couldn't send in coins, but notes were doable, but he would manage to at least save a little money up. The existence of the account was the most important thing for the moment anyway.

He had found fifty pounds stuck between the pillows of the armchair that Uncle Vernon preferred and he had sent the note to the bank with the request to put it into his savings account. With money in it, the account would stay active. He planned to save up enough coins to exchange them for a note at the bakery at the other end of the village, where his aunt never shopped. Therefore, she wouldn't find out what he did. And he had a safe place for small amounts of money. There was a loose stone in the wall inside his cupboard, behind which you could hide small things. He had tried and found that he could place ten stacks of coins behind the stone without it looking out of place.

That allowed to hide enough coins to get five to ten Pounds together. And no adult wondered why an eight-year-old boy had those amounts of money. It wasn't much by adult perception. Harry made a point to walk past the bakery on his way back from school. His cousin was always collected by car by his aunt and Harry had to walk, therefore it wouldn't be strange if he walked that way. It was only five minutes longer than the normal route directly back to Privet Drive. Nothing his aunt would ever notice.

And getting the coins was fairly simple. He collected anything that he found in pockets of his relatives, never the whole amounts, but small ones. His uncle had the habit to put change into his pockets and forget it there, so when Harry had to do the laundry, his aunt never commented on the number of coins he handed her from finding them in said pockets. She never knew how much was in there after all and after searching Harry for taken coins at the beginning and coming up empty, she was convinced that he was too frightened of punishment to even think about 'stealing' from them. Harry was smart enough to hide the coins he took inside the laundry room, there were after all enough boxes in the shelves to put a few coins under the ones in the back and his aunt never looked there, and collect them when his aunt was otherwise busy.

Next to that he did 'collections' in Dudley's room, whenever he was forced to clean it. Dudley was a pig and his room looked accordingly. Harry only went in there wearing rubber gloves and he always threw the windows open first thing. He only needed to wait for five minutes until it didn't stink as much anymore. Dudley often bullied other children at school into giving him their lunch and pocket money to not be beaten up. He collected the money in several boxes and glasses in his room. Thanks to having to clean regularly in there, Harry knew where they were and he didn't feel bad for stealing from a thief. It wasn't money that Dudley had earned, therefore he didn't have a right to it. And with the number of places where Dudley stored the money, not to mention that he didn't really care about the amount, just that he had the power to force others to give it to him, he didn't have any idea if some of it went missing.

As long as he didn't take everything, Dudley never noticed. Harry also made sure to always put a few of the coins into the official piggy bank that Dudley had, just in case he did ask about missing coins. It had happened once and after the explanation and actually realising that his piggy bank was heavier, Dudley let the complaint fall and never mentioned it again. Harry didn't even get a punishment for that time, as he had convincingly acted confused when he told his aunt, who was shouting at him for stealing from her son, that he thought that money should be saved in a piggy bank and he wanted to make it more tidily for Dudley.

When Harry found out about magic and his vault at Gringotts, he was really happy that he now had money, but a check with the goblins revealed that compared to the ones that had influence in the wizarding world, he didn't have a lot of money. He had inherited more than enough to get through school and have good quality things, but it wouldn't be enough to use it for anything but that. He would also have to find a job soon after graduation. He didn't have enough for a house or any place for himself. His father, it seemed, had financed a good part of the war against Voldemort and had reduced the Potter fortune to a pittance of its former self. It didn't help that he had been forced to go into hiding, unable to continue working, when they became targets of Voldemort, which meant that they had to use up gold without earning more. Harry intended to bring it back to former size.

At least he had a starting point with the money he had. And he saw the possibilities that magic gave him. If he learned it all, he could become rich, at least in the muggle world, by using magic to work the system to his advantage. Therefore, Harry could be found lots of hours studying books about all kinds of spells that he found interesting and useful for all kinds of things.

The biggest advantage for him appeared when he overheard a handful of goblins complain about the high amounts of muggle money that they had to exchange for valuable gold. The goblins didn't have contacts with muggle banks and therefore didn't have a way to get back gold for the paper money. They kept a small amount for the times when people needed muggle money, but that wasn't very often and about five thousand pounds always were enough for the events that took place. For a whole year. The muggleborns normally left about fifty to one hundred thousand pounds with them during the school shopping period of July and August. And as one galleon was worth fifty Pounds, they had an abundance of money during that period.

When Harry realised that they normally burned the paper, he decided to approach them. He offered them to buy the paper from them, both during the summer months as well as before Christmas, as then there was also a lot of exchange going on, for just ten galleons the whole load. As ten galleons were much better than just burning the money, which would only cost them work, Harry got the whole supply of Pounds that Gringotts had stocked for ten galleons. When he counted the money, he was astonished. He had just got one hundred forty-seven thousand five hundred and twenty-five Pounds for the price of what normally were five hundred Pounds. All because the goblins didn't have a way to exchange the money back to galleons.

He was very happy with his deal. He would be filthy stinking rich after a few years of doing this.

* * *

Harry's time at Hogwarts wasn't always peaceful, but he learned a lot and he studied the system of the magical world. He made contacts with other students, without ever revealing how rich he was becoming. After his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire, he had investigated what this meant for his legal status. He had to suppress cackling with glee. The idiots had set a magical precedence. He was underage, but the rules clearly stated that only those of age were allowed to participate. Meaning, as both wasn't possible at the same time, and the contract forcing him to participate was binding, he was acknowledged as an adult by magic itself.

He only had to send a letter to Gringotts with the request to change his status from minor to emancipated minor and inform the Ministry to change his status as well and deactivate the trace. It was a formality. And there were laws that forced the Ministry to just do it. They couldn't refuse for any reason, as soon as he walked into the arena for the first task, the magical contract was sealed and irrevocable. And Harry had shown his great magical progress in the tournament. He just didn't expect the Triwizard Cup to be a portkey. That took him off guard and led to Voldemort managing his rebirth ritual. Thankfully Harry had been alone. He didn't want to imagine if Cedric, Fleur or Viktor had accidentally been dragged into this trap as well.

Well, Voldemort and his Death Eaters had got a bad surprise when they allowed Harry to duel and returned his wand to him. His wand was a blur of action and he knew that he had managed to kill or severely injure ten of the Death Eaters and Voldy was missing one of his new arms now. Payback is a bitch. Why anybody would think that a boy that had grown up with violent relatives that thought nothing about hurting him, or who had been forced to kill in self-defence before, would have problems striking back with violence when his life was in danger, he didn't know. But he actually didn't care either. He sent cutting curses, blasting hexes, acid curses, piercing hexes and anything else he could think of at his enemies.

Voldy certainly hadn't expected that. He also seemed mildly shocked that Harry claimed to not be light. He had seemingly also bought into the bullshit that certain authors liked to print. As if Harry would do things without gain for himself. He had gone after the stone out of self-preservation interest. He knew that if Voldemort got the stone, he would be toast. Not to mention that the temptation of that much gold was clearly in play as well. Then the basilisk. He didn't want to return to the Dursleys full-time. Therefore, Hogwarts had to stay open and the basilisk had to die. That he saved a girl in the process, certainly nice, but not why he really went down there. Not that he told anybody his reasons.

And the carcass of the basilisk sold really well. He had hired Dobby to take it apart, after asking him if he could do it, which was after Dobby had sent Lucius Malfoy crashing into a wall, and the little elf had been delighted to work for Harry for so little money that Harry could hardly call it expenses. Dobby seemed to only want to earn money as a symbol. And he was over the moon to be working for 'The Great Harry Potter'. The carcass's sale's profit filled his vaults very nicely. Seven hundred thirty-seven thousand two hundred and ninety-one galleons were made by selling the different parts so far. The goblins, who he had given the deal to sell it, as they were at least honest when a contract was in play, and they earned well for the work they did, had spread out selling the rarer parts to not have the prices fall too low, which meant that there were still some vials with the venom or the blood available to be bought and it would increase his profit more. It would have also already been more, but he had reserved some of the hide for a battle robe for himself, once he had grown up. Basilisk hide protected better than dragon hide. Not to mention it looked really cool.

He got a second elf in Winky, after Crouch, the idiot, had fired her. But she was bound to him, as she didn't want to be a disgraced elf. He let her do it the way she wanted. Dobby had wanted to be free, so he was free and was paid, Winky wanted to be a proper elf, therefore she was bound to the Potter family. Winky turned out to be a fantastic tailor, which cut down on his expenses for clothes immensely and let him look really good at the same time. He only had to get Winky the materials she needed and she would work wonders. And those materials could easily be ordered in the muggle world for much less than in the wizarding world. Mass production simply reduced costs of things. He loved house elves. And he made Winky very happy when he asked her to design a whole line of clothes that he could market under his label. She didn't want to be known for designing the clothes, but her master should get a good image.

Therefore, Harry hired a muggleborn couple that needed jobs badly to manage a shop where they would sell Winky's creations under the symbol of the golden lightning bolt on a green triangle. He had secured that symbol as his trade mark and had subtly advertised that he was going to open a shop where people could buy things that he promoted. He also had allowed Lavender to find some designs for clothes and jewellery with the trademark on the bottom right corner that had fallen from his bag. Supposedly accidentally, but actually he had wanted to spread the rumours discretely without it looking like he was advertising them.

You could trust Lavender to spread the gossip and show around the designs with her friends. And Harry had chosen a very pretty dress that Winky had designed and added a simple but tasteful necklace with matching earrings, which he had designed. Jewellery design was actually his hobby. And for some reason Dobby knew potions that could create the gems and precious stones that were needed for them. Seemingly they were Malfoy family secrets in the distant past, but had been forgotten over time. Dobby's family had been Malfoy elves for centuries and the stories of their family were always told to the young elves by the older ones.

Well, their loss, Harry's gain. Dobby organised copies of all interesting books that weren't protected at Malfoy Manor for Harry, which was about ninety-five per cent of the whole Malfoy book collection, and he soaked up the knowledge. Where you would have had to pay ten thousands of Pounds if you bought the raw jewels in the muggle or wizarding world, Harry got them for the price of the potion ingredients. A bargain. And to make sure that nobody could give him trouble, he put them under the patents he got for all kinds of spells and production processes for his company. Some of his own invention, some found in old books at the library that nobody seemed to have read for ages.

He had learned from Winky that to protect business secrets, you could simply ask for a collective patent file at the Ministry and add processes simply by the name of what was achieved. Gem creation for example secured the whole process of producing the jewels with potions. There was no need to give up how exactly it was done. But this way, in case one of the Malfoys accidentally came across the secret in the old book, not that it was probable, as the current Malfoys weren't big on reading more than current books, they wouldn't be able to demand him to stop or give them part of the profit. A patent protected any business from extern claims. The only way you could be stopped was if an already existing patent existed for the process. Then the registry would inform you and you had to negotiate with the one to hold that patent if you were allowed to use your own method, if it was different to that one, or you had to pay an annual user fee. But Harry's patents were unique to himself and he could work like he wanted to.

Now, after his fourth year, Harry had new plans to expand his fortune again. He had looked up some spells to make him appear older than he was. He went to London by train, as he was out the whole day anyways, his relatives never thought it strange, and used his ability to use magic freely now to the full advantage. He used a modified summoning charm that turned everything he specified invisible and summoned all the lost money that lay around the streets of London. Dobby and Winky were ready to pop it away, clean it and sort the coins and notes by currency and nominal value. Next he went to a muggle casino and used a few basic spells to make sure that he won, not obviously, but big when he wanted to, at games like roulette, black jack or poker. It multiplied his capital a lot and there were many casinos in London where he could get things done.

He only had to deposit the money into his account in smaller amounts to not tip off the people in charge that something strange was going on. Thankfully he had managed to place a confundus charm onto his file to let people ignore what was going on, but with computers becoming more and more important, he needed to be more careful and have a source of income that could explain why he earned that much money. The shop, which he by now had expanded to have a branch in the muggle world as well, was that alibi. Should anybody look into things too closely, they would think that it was just a really well-working business.

The deeds were in his name, but with a remark that, until he turned eighteen, his guardian, a Mr J. H. White, would be taking care of the legal side of things. J. H. White was actually Harry's glamour, inspired by his dad's first name and his own, with a touch of involving his godfather in using the opposite of his name, which Sirius never liked to be associated with anyway. Would he know, he would certainly get a good laugh out of it.

* * *

Harry sat at a table of the library, drawing a new design for a series of jewellery that he wanted to create next. Winky had given him her newest designs and had asked him to create fitting jewellery to go with the clothes. Most of what Winky designed was meant for females, but she was also very good at coming up with great designs for males. Harry normally was the one to try them and then play model at school, advertising her clothes among his peers. And he knew how to design his jewellery to make it appealing for males as well. Like a dragon made from onix with either ruby or emerald eyes. Dragons were cool after all.

Like basically all the time during this year, he didn't have a lot of privacy and Ron plopped down in the chair next to him and Hermione took the seat opposite of him.

"What are you doing, Harry?" Hermione asked, looking at his drawings.

"Trying to decide if aquamarines or sapphires will look better with these dresses. The fashion show is going to take place in a month and I need to have everything ready by then," Harry answered distractedly.

"Harry, why are you working on a fashion show?" Hermione asked annoyed, "You should concentrate on your OWLs. They are important. You need good grades to get a proper job after you graduate."

"Hermione, I have my own brand in the fashion world and am going to expand the shops that sell the clothes and jewellery that are sold under that brand once I get out of school. I don't need to care too much about getting the best grades. I only need to know how to perform the spells and which ones can help me make my products successful. The strictly academic approach that most of our teachers take doesn't help me much with that. I won' fail my OWLs, far from it, but I really don't need to go into panic mode about them. Not to mention that I have studied up on all kinds of spells, which you saw me use in the tournament, by the way. I'm good on the practical side of things and I know enough theory to get an E," Harry countered.

"But don't you want to become an auror?" Ron asked aghast.

"No," Harry replied, "Aurors are in constant danger and I don't want to end looking like Mad-Eye Moody. He was the best and if the best looks like him and has issues to ever relax, that is not the right job for me."

"But aurors are the elite!" Ron protested.

"And while designing clothes and jewellery seems like a nice hobby, it wouldn't be a proper job," Hermione stated.

"Chanel, Versace, Lagerfeld, Boss," Harry listed and Hermione shut up immediately.

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked confused.

"Those are the names of very popular and expensive brands of fashion in the muggle world, Ron. And for your information," Harry told Hermione while standing up from his seat, as he had no intention to let her tell him what he needed to do, he was more than doing well in all his classes without her nagging, "I have offers to have a joint fashion show with Versace over the Christmas break. One of their scouts noticed my jewellery designs that I make for the Bolt Fashion line and asked if I could imagine equipping his designs with unique jewellery as well. And I have agreed."

With that he left, knowing fully well that Lavender and Parvati had overheard him. They would spread this and confirm many rumours about him going into fashion business. It was after all news that he was the owner of Bolt Fashion. That he endorsed the brand was known, but not that it was his. And honestly, an auror didn't make that much money. A successful fashion designer earned much, much more and Harry wanted to be rich and successful. If now only Voldemort would leave him alone. He really didn't want to deal with that maniac all the time. Not to mention the constant headaches.

* * *

Coincidence helped Harry with his Voldemort problem. When he researched what kind of clothes sold for the highest amount of money, both in the wizarding and the muggle world, he came across a unique material that was made from magical Chinese silk worms. You could drench the material, which took up the magical properties of any kind of potion it was treated with first, in a potion that would cleanse all dark magic from a body. The potion normally was too dangerous to use on more than small bits of skin. He had found out from Madam Pomfrey, when he had asked her about the possibility of creating jewels with medical properties as well as clothes that could help stall off colds for example, that the potion was normally used on small injuries caused by dark magic. Werewolf scratches for example.

While it would still leave scars, it would cleanse the dark taint, if it wasn't too strong. The potion always vaporised quickly if it was brought in contact with air and dark magic, which made it very difficult to use. Harry, after reading about the properties of the silk, decided to try if the combination could help him in his business plans. And he had the perfect test subject to see if it would work in his scar. He worked on preparing a long piece of cloth that he could use to bandage his forehead three times with it. Once it was done and the properties of the potion had sunk into the cloth, he went to the hospital wing to ask Madam Pomfrey to oversee his experiment and step in if necessary.

"You want to test an experimental potion on yourself? Are you insane, Potter?" She asked aghast.

"No, I want to test a piece of cloth made from Chinese silk worm silk, which I had suck up a tested potion to deal with dark magic in injuries. I just don't know how my body will react to having a constant pull on the dark magic in my scar. You told me that the potion vaporised too fast for my kind of scar, therefore I came up with this idea. The worst that could happen was that it didn't work and I had to vomit or blacked out. Which is why I came here," Harry countered.

"You're going to be the death of me, Potter, but very well, at least this way I can prevent too much harm being done. Even if I think this is a stupid idea. If that would work, others would have tried it before," Madam Pomfrey shook her head.

"Well, we'll see the results in the end," Harry declared and hopped onto one of the hospital beds.

"Just let me do a basic diagnostic charm to have your current state of health to interfere if anything really bad happens," Pomfrey sighed and proceeded to cast the spell when Harry nodded.

Soon he was lying down on the bed.

"So what exactly will you do?" She asked.

"I will wrap this cloth around my head like a bandage. The silk I used to make it takes up the magical properties of the first potion it comes in contact with. If everything goes like it should, the dark residue inside the scar will be dragged out. But I don't know how painful the process will be or if there are side effects," Harry explained.

"Alright, I will keep watch," She nodded.

Harry tied the cloth around his head and waited for the effect to start. It only took a minute until he felt the cloth heating up. Then he started squirming as it was becoming uncomfortable and felt himself being hit by a full-body bind charm.

"This is a common effect of the potion, Mr Potter," Pomfrey pointed out, "The potion heats up the area it effects and basically burns the dark residue out."

Harry felt sweat pouring from his forehead and the effect on his scar was clearly noticeable. It was a piercing pain that concentrated on his scar and became worse with every passing minute. Finally, he felt as if the scar was on fire and it broke open with a wail and a loud, pained scream tore through the hospital wing. Harry felt really dizzy all of a sudden and when the body bind was lifted, Madam Pomfrey was already there with a bowl into which he could throw up. She gently untied the cloth from his forehead and put him back down into the pillows of the bed after he had washed out his mouth with some water.

"You certainly found something incredible there, Potter," She told him smiling, the cloth now looked black and burnt in the place where it had touched his scar.

"Is it all out?" Harry mumbled. He felt really tired, but he needed to know.

Madam Pomfrey performed a scan and then nodded.

"The dark residue is gone, except for a few after traces, which is normal after cleaning out a lot of dark residue in a wound. But this can be treated with less painful potions and your natural magic will deal with pushing the rest out on its own. Rest and tomorrow we can discuss this more," Pomfrey told him and Harry gave in, surrendering to sleep.

* * *

When Harry woke up again, he could hear Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey arguing.

"You should have called me here before he tried something that dangerous!" Dumbledore stated, sounding furious.

"You aren't a healer, headmaster, and I was more than qualified to oversee the test. The results are wonderful. The dark taint from his scar is purged and the remains are being neutralised as we speak. In about three days there won't be anything left. He can finally be free from those stupid nightmare visions that he told me about," Madam Pomfrey countered.

"This isn't something like a normal injury," Dumbledore started.

"No, it is something that should have been corrected when he was still a baby. But you refused to let any healer see him. We can treat dark magic best if it hasn't been a long time since it was used," Pomfrey also sounded angry.

"It was too dangerous," Dumbledore repeated his earlier argument.

"Not more dangerous than being inside this school regularly is," Harry commented loudly to inform them about him being awake.

"Harry, my boy, what you did was very foolish," Dumbledore started.

"Don't even go there, headmaster," Harry stopped him, "You have been giving me the cold shoulder all year, left me alone to deal with the lies Umbridge and the Ministry spread about me and left me with abusive relatives when I was a defenceless baby. You have no right to scold me for anything. I'm emancipated, thanks to being forced into the stupid tournament last year, which you know, since I took the accusations for the patronus use apart that way during my trial. And don't try to claim the school is safe for me. I only have to mention bringing the Stone to Hogwarts, not realising a basilisk was going around when Hermione found it out after a few months and then allowing dementors to attack on the grounds. The tournament is another good example. Well, at least I got something valuable out of it, even if I had to face Voldemort at the end."

Dumbledore looked very unhappy with the scolding.

"You have to let go of your anger," Dumbledore tried, but Harry interrupted him.

"Or what? You will tell me how disappointed you are in me? You aren't in any position to do that. Your so-called mistakes prevented that I had a childhood. They put me in danger since the time my parents died. You didn't even do your stupid job as head of the Wizengamot to give all people that were accused to be Death Eaters a trial and let real Death Eaters walk away with the imperius excuse. You had tremendous political power in your positions, but you didn't use it to do, as you said yourself at the end of last year 'the right thing over what is easy'. I'd rather take a calculated risk, after all, I didn't use any kind of experimental potion, but one that was tested and established in the medical field. And I had a fully trained healer observe everything.

"And letting go of my anger? Why should I, if I never get any apologies when I'm wronged? You seem to think that my life is something you can play with, like a game of chess. Well, I don't think so. I'm nobody's puppet and I make my own decisions. And as an adult in the eyes of the law, as long as I don't break it, nobody can tell me what I can or can't do. You made your bed, lie in it, but leave me alone. You lost any trust I might have had when you let the school turn against me in second year. Power is only good if you actually use it. And as headmaster, preventing the whole student body turning against one student is part of your duties. Especially as Hagrid saw me before the attack on Justin and knew I couldn't have done it."

Harry turned around, to not have to see Dumbledore anymore. He really couldn't stand the self-righteous idiot. Had he seen his face, he would have noticed a mix of anger, sadness and trying to figure out what to do. Well, Harry didn't want to deal with a man that had let things become like they were. Madam Pomfrey shooed him out after that and Harry, still feeling tired, went back to sleep.

* * *

Severus Snape felt horrible. For some days now he felt as if he was becoming weaker and weaker. He didn't know what was happening, but it came from the dark mark. That much he knew. Something was wrong with the Dark Lord and it influenced his Death Eaters as well. While he had by now got used to the volatile temper of the Dark Lord, Potter cutting his new arm off which no healer had managed to grow back so far, certainly didn't help that, he could block the overflowing feeling of fury fairly well, thanks to his occlumency skills. But this was something totally different. He was trying to find a spell or potion that could stop the effects, but so far he had only managed to slow whatever happened down to half speed. He cursed Harry Potter, after all he was sure that the boy was at fault, like he nearly always did, and continued to work on a potion that might be able to stop this drain on his magic.

* * *

Harry read with surprise that a high number of purebloods were admitted to St. Mungo's with strange symptoms of their magic being out of control or getting weaker and weaker with every day. Going by some names in there, he figured that they were the Death Eaters that had escaped his attack at the end of June. He listened to the speculations Hermione came up with, but his own thoughts went to the date when this phenomenon had started. It was the week after he had had the dark taint taken from his scar. And the scar was connected to Voldemort. Did the procedure have anything to do with it? Well, he couldn't care less about some bastards being sick or perhaps dying. It wasn't his fault.

If they were sick as a consequence of him getting rid of the problems with his scar, thanks to being Death Eaters, well, they made their bed, not him. He looked over to the Slytherin table where some of the students were missing. Probably visiting their sick relatives. Snape was also absent. Well, he was a Death Eater after all, so if it targeted them all, he wouldn't be spared. When breakfast was close to ending, Dumbledore stood, surprising some that were about to leave to get their books for classes.

"If I may have a moment of your time," Dumbledore said and Harry could see that Umbridge wasn't happy at all about something, "Thank you. As some of you may have read in today's Daily Prophet, a high number of people have fallen to a mysterious disease and are hospitalised. Professor Snape has been caught as well and I will be substituting in Potions for the time being until he can return. Some of your classmates have also gone home to visit their sick relatives and I ask you to not bother them about their condition. The healers at St. Mungo's are working fervently to find a cure for this mysterious disease. As far as could be determined the disease isn't contagious in normal ways like through air or liquids, which makes the way it spreads difficult to track down, which complicates finding a cure.

"As my time is limited, there have been some changes made to the timetables for the time being to accommodate my needs to also do my work as headmaster. All Potions classes have been moved to the mornings so that I have the afternoons for my other duties. Your heads of houses will pass out the new timetables. Please don't try to go and visit Professor Snape, as he has been transferred to St. Mungo's this morning as well. Professor Sinistra will substitute for him as head of Slytherin House until he can return. Classes will start twenty minutes later than normal today, as you will probably need to get the right books from your common rooms, as you weren't aware of the changes. From tomorrow on, classes will begin as usual in the morning."

Dumbledore sat down again and the three remaining heads and Professor Sinistra started walking through the Great Hall, passing out the new timetables.

* * *

Harry followed the reports on the mysterious sickness of the purebloods and the rare halfblood with interest. There had been the first report about one weaker wizard becoming a squib from it. It caused a wide-spread panic and some families were reported to have fled from England already to escape becoming sick as well. As far as people like Lavender could tell him, they were of the shadier kind as well. Probably they had made the connection of the victims being Death Eaters as well and had decided before whatever had hit them hit them, as unmarked supporters probably, as well, they would rather jump ship and flee to another country.

His scar had faded and lost all dark residue. And thanks to another potion and a small medical procedure done by Madam Pomfrey, he had managed to let new, healthy skin grow over the former lightning bolt shaped scar. He was truly happy that nobody would ever be able to stare at his scar again. Those that didn't know him personally, wouldn't be able to simply identify him on the streets anymore. And he was growing out his hair to change from the messy, short hair look he had worn previously. Next to getting contacts, he looked totally different. And he thought that long hair looked seriously cool.

His designs for the fashion show were also as good as done now, he only needed to coordinate things with the manager for the show. He was actually also halfway done with the designs for Versace's show. It was an intriguing project and he enjoyed having to adjust to another designer's style. He had also begun to design a few things for males himself. Not just jewellery, but casual wear. He knew what kind of things he felt most comfortable in. He drew a few things that he thought would look good and then conversed with Winky to get the opinion of his main tailor. Winky sometimes had a few suggestions for changes, but mostly she advised him on which material would work best with what design. He had a lot of fun with this and it would bring him a good amount of money into his accounts.

There were by now two lines. One for wizards and one for muggles. The tastes in both worlds were different, but he was working on bringing them closer together. Fashion in the wizarding world was so far behind times, it was high time that somebody pushed them a bit forward.

* * *

Harry looked at the first finished clothes that Winky had brought him of the clothes for the fashion show. As it was going to take place in the back of his magical store in London, which he had had set up as a viewing room for clients to have some models show off the current fashion for them, if they booked the room beforehand, he wanted everything to be perfect. Just when he was going over the order of the show with Winky, the door to the unused classroom that he used for things like this opened.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know that somebody was here," Harry heard Lavender say.

"No problem, Lavender. No harm done," Harry replied.

"Wow, those dresses are stunning. Are they for your shop?" Lavender asked.

"Yes, these are the new spring collection of Bolt Fashion. I was just going over the order I want the models to present them at the fashion show next weekend. I like to have everything perfectly organised so that the show will be a grand success. It will be the first one I hold at the shop as well and it will be a big part of our current advertising strategy," Harry revealed. It wasn't a secret after all that he owned Bolt Fashion by now.

"Oh, I would give anything to be able to watch it. I would bet several girls here at Hogwarts would love to see a real fashion show. I only heard about one from my older cousin, but that was a muggle fashion show in Paris. She works for a French designer and it was fantastic to see some of the pictures of the models.

"Hm, maybe I can set up something in Hogsmeade next year. The only fashion shop there is Gladrags, and honestly, the designs are boring and old-fashioned. I would have to see about a premise first though. Well, I have people that are experts on that kind of thing," Harry commented.

"You're really into the fashion business now, aren't you, Harry?" Lavender asked, still looking at the dresses mainly with stars in her eyes.

"Yes. I will make my brand known all over the world. Right now I don't have the time to really concentrate on this, as I'm still at school, but once I graduate, I'll do this full-time. I plan to actually study fashion at one of the famous fashion schools as well, next to business management, to get a degree in it. It will help me with expanding my shops and knowing what to look out for. The trends change all the time after all and if you want to be successful, you need to know what the clients want to wear, or be good enough to make them want to wear your clothes," Harry stated.

"I don't think you'll have trouble in the wizarding world at all. There are very few good designers. Most clothes shops only sell the same things. Madam Malkin only sells robes in all variants, but nothing else. Twilfitt and Tatting's is for higher society, but basically it is all the same, conservative stuff. Gladrags is for the younger crowd, but they also mostly concentrate on robes, but with a bit brighter colours and more accessories. I'm really glad that I can get a good number of things in the muggle world. Even if I have to go to cheap shops, as my parents never have much muggle money in the house," Lavender told him.

"I see. Hm, could you perhaps do me a favour, Lavender? I know that you and Parvati are very fashion conscious and want to look good when you don't have to wear your school uniforms. I would like to have the opinion of girls that love fashion what kind of things they like best and would want to buy. It would also help me to know how much pocket money you actually get to be able to spend on things like these. After all, if I really go through with my plans of setting up a shop in Hogsmeade, it would need to properly serve the younger crowd, next to having a section where adults can find clothes that they want to wear all the time," Harry asked, "I'll of course pay for it as market research."

"Really? I would love to, Harry. I'm sure Parvati will too!" Lavender squealed excitedly.

"Great, if you could set up some kind of understandable report on your results by February, it would work out perfectly. I won't have time to analyse your results before that time anyway. I have the fashion show in London this weekend and one over the Christmas break in Dublin with Versace coming up and will be very busy."

"Don't worry, we won't disappoint you!" Lavender promised and rushed off to find her best friend and tell her of the deal she had made.

Harry went back to his work, smiling at having another thing covered without any effort on his side. And paying Lavender and Parvati some galleons for information that will be worth much more wasn't a hardship in any way.

* * *

Harry had to grin when the headmaster went through a number of different kinds of faces. Harry had checked with the school charter and there was a rule that allowed students to be absent from the castle on weekends, if they either were of age, emancipated or needed for familiar reasons and had the permission of their parents. Harry was emancipated and he had just informed Professor McGonagall, as his head of house, that he would be absent during the weekend for business reasons. She had tried to dismiss his claim as not feasible, but Harry had simply pulled out an up-to-date copy of the school's charter and had opened it at the page in question, showing her why he was definitely allowed to leave and was just doing his part in informing her of his leaving.

The school, as long as the student wasn't failing his classes, couldn't forbid it. Especially not when the privilege hadn't been used before. Theoretically any student that fell into the group that could use the clause, could leave every weekend, but if that happened, normally a teacher could point out that Hogwarts was a boarding school and not a weekday school. And you would normally need the weekend to get your homework done. But Harry had planned in advance and presented every single essay due on Monday and Tuesday to his head of house.

Of course things couldn't simply be done by the book, no, if Harry Potter was involved, the headmaster had to meddle. Well, not this time.

"Harry, you can't leave. It isn't safe for you!" Dumbledore insisted for the third time in his attempt to stop Harry.

"Headmaster, I will leave and you have no power to stop me. You know it as well as I do. This is just a futile attempt to guilt trip me into staying. I already told you a few times, it doesn't work on me. I don't see you as the infallible authority that most people raised in the wizarding world have been led to see you as. I have been emancipated, simply because you and the other judges in the Triwizard messed up. Simply take the truth as it is. You forced me into the Tournament and activated a magical precedence. And concerning my safety, who would attack me right now? Voldemort and his Death Eaters are sick as dogs. I do read the Daily Prophet, especially as they now are too busy worrying about this disease that seems to hit 'upstanding purebloods' more than anybody else.

"I would bet that all those that have been brought to St. Mungo's bear the dark mark. I certainly recognised a lot of the names as belonging to the ones that appeared at the graveyard. I have no idea what causes it, but with them all being too weak to get out of bed, how would they manage to attack a fashion show? And I have contracted Gringotts to ward the place impenetrable for anybody not invited, which is reserved for an exclusive circle of people. Next to that my security personnel will make sure that everything goes smoothly. I'm not asking for permission, I'm giving you due notice, as I need to do demanded by the school charter," Harry pointed out.

"I can't let you leave," Dumbledore insisted.

"You don't have a choice. If you try to keep me here, it constitutes as illegal imprisonment and I can sue you for it. Fudge would jump at the chance to put you on trial. He dislikes and fears you much more than he does me. If he smells a chance to get some good PR, he will take it with both hands. And imagine, being able to say that he helped the Boy-Who-Lived to escape the clutches of the control-obsessed headmaster Albus Dumbledore, who he is convinced is after his job anyway," Harry mentioned.

"I wouldn't have thought that you would sink as low as threatening blackmail," Dumbledore stated annoyed, "You are treading a dangerous path, Harry."

"It isn't blackmail; it is my lawful right. You are the one not accepting that you aren't the one to decide what I do anymore. Well, I don't care. I never did. I only want to live my life without you or Voldemort meddling in it. If you think that standing up for my rights is dark, I suggest seeking out a councillor. You seemingly lost your sense of what constitutes as dark. I don't kill people, I don't torture them, I don't exploit them and I don't force them to do things they don't want to do. I just live my life the way I want to do. If I change a few opinions on the way, well, not my problem. I give people options what they want to do, mostly in what kind of fashion is available, but with how old-fashioned this world is, well, I might as well start a revolution. One that is overdue. Well, I did my duty as a student, you know where I'll be. I'll be back Sunday before dinner. Bye," Harry turned away from Dumbledore and left his office, leaving an angry and disbelieving headmaster and deputy behind.

"He's going dark," Dumbledore worried.

"Get your head out of your arse, finally, Albus," the portrait of Armando Dippet reprimanded him, "The boy is in no way going dark. You just hate that you lost control. Get rid of the idea that everything has to follow your ideas and opinions. The younger generation will always challenge the older generation and their proving themselves brings progress. It has been the case in my time, it is the case in your time. You are over one hundred years old, Albus. And the boy resents all kinds of control."

"Not too uncommon for a teenager," Dilys Derwent added, "They will always want to test themselves. And his way is completely harmless. What harm can it do if he wants to make a mark on the fashion world and make a name for himself for something he actually did? If he is successful, well, it also reflects positively at Hogwarts, as he's a student here. You should support him in his endeavours, not hinder him at every turn."

"Not to mention that I can see his Black heritage coming out. He's like his grandmother in a way. I watched how Dorea grew up from my portrait at Grimmauld Place. The only way to get through to him is treating him like an adult, not like a child. Next to expertise on all kinds of powerful magic, we Blacks are incredibly stubborn when we feel in the right. You can easier work with him than against him. And I certainly enjoy my descendant, even if he's a halfblood, showing the good Black attributes. Much better than that Great Grandson of mine," Phineas Niggelus Black commented smirking.

"I would give him some space, Albus," Minerva sighed, "He is in the right after all and I'd think that he'd be more open for a guard that he approves of, like Sirius or Remus, than anything else we might come up with. Perhaps Tonks would also be an option. She is an auror after all and he got along quite well with her during the summer break when he stayed at Grimmauld Place."

"I don't like this. He shouldn't be doubting my orders like this. I only act for the Greater Good," Dumbledore objected.

"That boy combines the best and worst traits of his parents, but essentially, he's more like his mother than his father. And you know how Lily reacted when she felt she was wronged. She never forgave Severus for calling her a mudblood. Not that I can blame her. Had I been there, not only would James and the others have been in detention faster than they could say Quidditch, Severus would also have spent a month in there, as soon as the new school year started. I suggest you swallow this toad and choose your battles. This one you can't win, as he is in the right," Minerva commented.

Dumbledore didn't look happy, but he knew too well that Harry would leave, no matter what he tried. He knew the secret passages inside the castle better than anybody else, probably much better than even the Weasley twins.

* * *

 **Until tomorrow.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi, this is the last chapter for the story. Hope you like it.**

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

Harry stood next to Tonks, who he had accepted as a guard, after Professor McGonagall had talked to him again, pointing out that it would put a lot of people at ease if he had one trustworthy adult present. As he quite liked Tonks' easy going personality, he had agreed to let the bubbly auror be present. Not that he didn't make her help with the last-minute preparations.

"Harry, the music is all set and we will go over the dress rehearsal in thirty minutes. The models will do the walking without the clothes, simply to perfect the timing," The wizard in charge of the music called over.

"Thank you, Jake!" Harry called back.

Next to that a group of four swiped over the catwalk and prepared the magical equivalent of spotlights all around.

"Wow, I never thought that I would get to see how a magical fashion show was done," Tonks commented impressed, keeping out of the way of the workforce to not hinder anybody.

"This is just the beginning, Tonks. I plan to start a new era of fashion in the magical world. It will be grand!" Harry declared.

"Don't you dislike your fame?" Tonks asked.

"I dislike the fame I got over the stupid moniker Boy-Who-Lived. They basically praise me for living when my parents didn't. Great way to always call that memory up for me, especially after what the dementors did to me. I want to be known, but for something I actually did. And this, the brand Bolt Fashion, is something I created. I am the one that designed the whole jewellery and some of the designs for the male clothes have been done by me. The female ones were thought up by my top designer, who dislikes the spotlight and therefore stays in the background. And the timing for the fashion show is chosen to allow the dresses that we will present in the category 'Festivities and Celebrations' go on sale for the ball season around Christmas and New Year.

"I invited reporters from _Teen Witch Weekly_ and _Witch Weekly_ to the fashion show, as well as the star reporter of _Magical Glamour_. I have hired a professional to record the whole fashion show and I have let Sirius and Remus work out how to make a magical version of a telly for my shops. There will be a huge screen where the highlights of the fashion show will be shown to the clients. The same will be done in the muggle world for the muggle fashion show with Versace that I plan. I already got the okay from Versace's legal team for my plans. They plan to do the same in their shops, as they like the idea immensely," Harry explained.

"Wow, just wow," Tonks commented. She couldn't wait to see what the actual show would be like.

* * *

Finally, it was time. Harry was dressed in a stylish blue-grey suit, which he wore the jacket of open, with a pristine white button up shirt under it, leaving the top two buttons open. Instead of a tie, he wore one of his leather string necklaces with a ruby red dragon as the pendant, the wings spread threateningly, with small onyxes as eyes. His hair was tied up with a leather band and he went over the script for tonight one more time in his head.

"Alright, Showtime," he declared and the ones manning the special effects nodded.

Music started, they had chosen a theme of classical ballade to begin with, as they didn't want to shock the conservative magicals too much from the start by using something with more beat. A muggleborn that liked to write songs had even written the ballade to fit the show. The first five models stood ready to begin when their signal was given. The first one wore a long, flowing red skirt with a knotted belly top in white with red petal images on the short sleeves. White boots completed the outfit. For jewellery Harry had created a bracelet made of silver with rubies in petal form as well as a matching necklace.

The second model wore a long sleeved emerald blouse that went down to the upper thighs, with sleeves that consisted of four separate loose pieces of see-through material and a decent décolleté. It hugged the woman's body lightly before falling a bit wider at the bottom under the waistline, giving a slight idea of a skirt. Matching to it she wore black leggings and green, short leather boots that had some silver fur on top of them. For jewellery Harry had chosen long, delicate, silver spiralling earrings with small emeralds appearing regularly and a delicate silver necklace with five black and green pearls interchanging at the bottom. They were going with nature themes and colours for the start. The next models represented snow, lava and rain. And the special effects set everything into scene, making it appear as if the model was just part of the element she represented. After those five had had their turn, Harry had to appear outside and give a short welcome speech. He had worked on it for two weeks until he was satisfied and sure he wouldn't forget anything.

He watched on a small monitor how the audience took the fashion and the appearance of the models. He knew that they had never before seen anything like this. Alone the way the models walked up and down the catwalk was new to them. Then it was his turn. They had thought up a nice special effect for his appearance. He put a sonorus charm on his throat and stepped out while a cloud of green and gold smoke changed form to build the trademark of Bolt Fashion directed by charms created by a muggleborn wizard that loved muggle special effects in movies. He walked directly through the now sparkling sign.

"Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to Bolt Fashion's first ever fashion show. I'm happy to greet all of you here at our premises in London!" Harry exclaimed and waited for the applause to lessen before continuing, "Tonight the team of Bolt Fashion will present to you the new spring collection, which will be available in the Bolt Fashion shops from Monday on. My name is Harry Potter and I'm the owner and chief designer for the jewellery branch of the company. Bolt Fashion is a company I founded, as I was asked to promote the fashion of a designer that wanted to have her clothes worn and presented, but disliked being in the spotlight. I agreed to help promote her designs and things spiralled from there. And no, I'm not revealing her name, I have a secrecy agreement with her."

Harry knew he had to stop any kind of investigation right there, officially that was. Nobody would ever find out that his lead designer was a house elf. But the mystery was part of the appeal. And wizards were honestly too stupid to even think of a house elf as the mysterious designer. They would think of a shy witch, or him intentionally misleading them and it was really a wizard.

"Tonight's show is under the motto: Natural Beauty. Any questions can and will be answered at the meet and greet after the show. Please enjoy the show," Harry declared and got some more applause.

Then he walked back while two models wearing long dress gowns with matching jewellery walked down the catwalk and he could only smirk, seeing some of the men in the audience breathe in deeply at how much skin they showed. Well, witches wanted to look good for their wizards without looking cheap. And Harry had made sure to consider that. Well, Winky had, but he had got her reference material from the muggle world to give her some ideas where things could go. And Winky loved designing evening gowns.

* * *

Tonks sat at a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. She had been asked to report about the events at the fashion show. The headmaster really needed to lay off with his attempts to control Harry's life.

"Okay, Tonks, how did it go? Did the old snoozers get heart attacks?" Sirius asked grinning.

"Oh, you should have seen it. It was breath-taking. I'm certainly going to visit Harry's shop on Monday. You should have seen the clothes. Much more modern than what any other shop sells, but very tasteful. He'll earn so much money with that. And yes, some old guys were close to heart attacks I think. While all of the dresses of the female models were fairly conservative by muggle standards, Harry certainly chose clothes that teased horribly. I would bet that several witches will queue up at his shop in Diagon Alley to buy their dresses for the upcoming ball season, as soon as the magazines print their photos. And they were snapping pictures like crazy. I doubt that anybody there had ever seen a witch in leggings.

"It was grand. And the fashion for the males was just as awesome. If I had a boyfriend right now, I would so make sure to drag him to the Bolt Fashion store to get him some of their clothes. They let wizards look really good. And the selection of music and special effects, just wow. I can't believe that Harry set all of that up," Tonks gushed.

"It was very irresponsible of Harry to take such a risk," Dumbledore said.

"Not really. I was shown the security precautions and there was no chance that anybody that wasn't checked by the security guards, which coincidentally included a magical version of a metal detector, which muggles use at their airports to detect weapons, just that those detectors detected anything classified as dangerous, be it potions, weapons, devices or other things was secured on the spot and sent off to the DMLE. Harry arranged a contract with the head of the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol, Stebbins, to have anybody that tried to give them trouble at the show be sent to the interrogation room, to be dealt with by them. Stebbins was more than happy to confirm that for me and he's quite positive towards Harry and his attitude to leave the officials to dealing with troublemakers and not take the law into his own hands," Tonks explained.

"Good for him. The MLEP can be quite annoying if you go over their heads," Kingsley commented," Where did you procure the detector arcs? I don't think they are common."

"They aren't. According to Harry it is a cooperation work between him, the Weasley twins and Penelope Clearwater. Mostly Harry gave the idea and the input what kind of things needed to be detected and the other three worked out the details," Tonks answered, "He will get a percentage of the profit once the twins start selling them."

"Those don't sound like your typical joke shop products, which the twins consistently said they wanted to have," Arthur threw in.

"Harry seemingly convinced them to branch out. He will assist them in the joke shop idea, as long as they add other areas of products as well and help him with things he needs for his own business. Some kind of cooperation, which they have contractually fixed. The contract is Gringotts approved as well. There are no misunderstandings in it anywhere," Tonks explained, "Harry wants to concentrate on fashion for the moment, but he doesn't want good ideas he might have going to waste. The twins were very open for including products into their assortment if they see a good business opportunity there."

"And how does Miss Clearwater fit into that? As far as I was aware, she was the girlfriend of Percy Weasley," Dumbledore asked.

"Oh, Penelope tutored Harry in the great potential that Runes have and they became friends. As she couldn't find a proper job after graduation, due to being a muggleborn, you know how prejudiced things are, Harry offered her a job keeping the books for his company, next to basically being his personal assistant, slash deputy. When Harry is busy with school, Penelope is in charge of the company. It's seemingly a well-working system. And Harry knows how valuable she is for his business. Her salary is a dream."

"While the thing with fashion is harmless, shouldn't Harry concentrate on school right now?" Molly asked.

"Oh, don't worry, his grades are good all over the board. Perhaps not excellent, but definitely all in the range of E's and low O's, the practical parts normally a solid O. He did show off his progress last year in the tournament and impressed a lot of people. I asked him the same question. He will easily pass all his classes for his OWLs. And if the trend of Death Eaters turning into squibs continues, well, he won't have to worry about the war anymore and can concentrate on his business. I mean, we already have six confirmed squibs and three deaths from those that couldn't take the loss of their magic," Tonks said seriously.

"Did St. Mungo's find out by now what caused the problems?" Remus asked.

"They are sure that it centres around the dark mark. It seems to pull the magic of the ones bearing it into it and transfers it to Voldemort. I have no information what might be wrong with him, but it is a very concerning development. Who knows what he might do with that amount of magic?" Dumbledore warned.

"That would be a problem, you're right, but it could as well be that he has problems with his own magic and subconsciously drains his marked followers to sustain his body. It is just a magical construct after all. After hearing the description that Harry gave of what happened after he was kidnapped, I did some research into the ritual. My family's library had the description of the ritual in it. As Harry said that he mostly based it on the venom of his snake, I could do some calculations. Basically Voldemort played a very risky gamble," Sirius pointed out.

"What do you mean, Sirius?" Kingsley asked.

"The ritual creates a fragile shell out of three magical ingredients normally. The more powerful the magic in them, the more durable the shell. As his father was a muggle, like Harry reported, he had to tweak the original ritual to still work. The baby form he had, probably he possessed a magical baby that Peter got for him, was not part of the original ritual. That one was actually meant to give a dark wizard whose body was damaged beyond magical healing, or simply old, a new, more powerful and younger body. It also doesn't have to be the father; it can be any magical ancestor from which the bone is taken. It is 'Bone of the forefather, unknowingly given', in the original ritual. Probably he had no idea where the bones of his mother or her family could be found. The servant that had to sacrifice his flesh was most often a house elf. You couldn't find a more devoted being and the more devoted and the closer the bond between master and servant, the stronger the body created," Sirius listed.

"The most powerful part of the ritual would in this case be Harry's blood then," Dumbledore realised, "It would by far be stronger than Peter's flesh or the venom of the snake."

"Correct. Peter is at best a mediocre wizard. The whole potion was based on the venom of a highly magical snake I think, as no normal snake would grow to the length as Harry described that monster. Now, I think that Voldemort didn't know one critical detail in his plan. Harry's blood isn't entirely human," Sirius stated.

"What do you mean?" Molly asked.

"He was bitten by the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets and later a phoenix cried into the wound to save his life. And Fawkes again cried into Harry's wound later on. But the second dose of tears was only entered into his bloodstream after his blood was taken forcefully. Now both basilisk venom and phoenix tears are highly magical substances and it takes decades for them to fully be absorbed by the body. Right now they remain in his blood and only their strongest effects cancel each other out. Basilisk venom brings death and Phoenix tears life. But basilisk venom also has the effect to instantly disintegrate any other kind of venom, like say, acromantula or other snake, and phoenix tears speed up natural healing. If you don't take them into account with your potion, you can get very instable results. Especially as your only powerful component in the whole ritual is the tainted blood," Sirius continued, "If anything throws the delicate balance that created the magical body construct off, it would be prone to quickly deteriorating."

"Oh Merlin, I didn't make that connection, but the start of the sickness was one week after Harry and Poppy did that experiment to cleanse Harry's scar on his forehead, the one from where the connection between Harry and Voldemort originates," Remus exclaimed, "If you're right, Sirius, and Harry's magic was the only thing really holding the construct together, then severing the connection could be the grain that tipped the balance. Harry wrote that he was finally free of the dark taint and that he didn't get nightmares and pain from the scar anymore after the cloth worked like he had hoped it would."

"What exactly did they do?" Emmeline asked, professional curiosity as a healer shining through.

Sirius quickly summarized what they had done and Emmeline was very impressed.

"I need to talk to him and see if he can procure more of these cloths. They would be invaluable for healing problematic patients or in case you need to have a constant influence of a potion from the outside," Emmeline decided happily.

"I'm sure he would be happy to help," Sirius nodded.

"You mean it is Harry's fault that all these people are sick and losing their magic?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, it is Voldemort's fault, for branding them, tying their magic to him in the first place, and the Death Eaters' for accepting a brand that basically comes down to a slave brand," Sirius objected harshly, "Not to mention that it was hardly Harry's fault that he was kidnapped right off the Hogwarts grounds in the cursed tournament last year and his blood forcefully taken from him. Harry did what anybody in his situation would have done. He found a way to cut the connection that caused him pain and certainly wasn't good for his body. You have to stop blaming Harry for everything that you don't like, just because he's sick of listening to your hypocritical words."

"Sirius, mind your words!" Dumbledore snapped.

"Oh, does the truth hurt?" Sirius asked sarcastically, "From what Harry told me about his time at Hogwarts, I can fully understand him and as his godfather I fully back him up. It doesn't mean as much anymore, as he was smart enough to realise his chance to get emancipated. And I for one am glad he did. I only hope I can catch Peter in this mess to prove my innocence. But perhaps, with the worst guys on the Wizengamot being sick, there might be a chance for the truth to finally be heard and my name cleared."

"That would be taking a huge risk," Dumbledore argued.

"It's a risk I would be willing to take if I can make sure that only those that actually have an interest in justice being done are present. I will go out and see if I can find Peter. I know how he thinks. I managed to track him down in 1981 thanks to that after all. Once I can present him, the DMLE would be forced to roll up the case from the start, as one of their main accusations isn't viable anymore. And with the statements of Harry, Hermione, Ron and Remus, there would be enough support to harden the statement. It would have been a lot easier if you had used your influence when you were still Chief Warlock to get this at least investigated by the DMLE, but now I have to use other means," Sirius declared.

Dumbledore really didn't like the looks he was given. Why couldn't people simply take his word for things?

* * *

It was Monday morning and the owls that delivered the morning mail had many of the special editions of Teen Witch Weekly to get to the many witches at Hogwarts that had a subscription to the popular magazine. Thanks to Lavender and Parvati, all the students at Hogwarts knew that Harry Potter had held a fashion show at his London branch of Bolt Fashion and that this morning the pictures and reports about it would appear in the magazine. The number of owls was high and many girls eagerly freed the owls from their burdens, immediately unwrapping their magazines. The cover had a photo of Harry surrounded by the models that had participated in the show, fireworks behind the group.

For about ten minutes it was silent, then many girls rushed towards Harry to pester him with questions about the new clothes, when they would be available, a possible branch in Hogsmeade and much more. Harry took it in stride and answered the many questions, as long as they weren't too personal. Some boys also wanted to know a bit about the men's line of clothes and Harry informed them that he would give each house three catalogues for Bolt Fashion's assortment so that they could all peruse the offers in their free time. He swiftly drew twelve catalogues from his school bag and handed three off to the Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs and Slytherins. The three catalogues for Gryffindor were quickly snatched up by Lavender, who shared it with Parvati and the Quidditch girls, Ginny, who took it over to her year mates, and Hermione, who wanted to know what her best friend was really up to.

"I can't believe that you would really go through with this," Ron commented, disbelieving, "I mean, why fashion?"

"Fashion is something that constantly changes and which can earn you much money. And it is much more interesting, and not to mention safer, than chasing dark wizards down. I really like this prospect for my future much better than what people simply expected without knowing me," Harry replied.

"Oh, that evening gown is so pretty!" Ginny exclaimed excitedly," And it wouldn't clash with my red hair at all. And you can get it for just three galleons. That is a bargain!"

"Huh, how can you afford to sell dresses for that little money, Harry?" Hermione asked, after having looked through the catalogue.

"I have ways to get the raw materials cheap. Very few of the clothes have charms on them and they are all part of the higher prize segment. You need special materials for charms to stick. Though I think I have found a new way to circumvent the requirements, but it's still experimental. Therefore, I won't tell you more about it. If I can get it working, it will be another great cash cow. And you have to keep in mind that three galleons are one hundred and fifty Pounds, Hermione. While that might not be that much for an evening gown, it is still a lot of money for the average teenager. I have intentionally had my designer work out which materials could be used for which price class.

"By the way, you can get all the clothes in the catalogue in two price classes. The one made from non-magical materials is about a third of the price that the magical variant costs. My shop has both stored, as I don't have numbers yet of which kind would be more popular. For the catalogues it is even easier. You can order the dress, blouse or whatever you like, give your measurements, which a magical tape can transfer to an order form, which I will also place into all the common rooms, and then it can be tailored to fit you perfectly within a day or two at most, if it isn't already in storage.

"My group of tailors has made sure to prepare enough of each kind of product to serve the first storm on the shop. I actually expect an owl tonight to hear how it went. To be on the safe side, I hired two more shop assistants to manage the onslaught," Harry informed her.

"Are you that sure that it will last? I mean, for the moment people will flock to your store, no doubt about it, it is new and your name always draws publicity. Not to mention that the magazines will have fired people up into checking things out for themselves. But what after that is over with?" Hermione asked.

"I planned ahead. I am in negotiations for store space in Hogsmeade. Once the rush on the store in Diagon Alley has calmed down, the additional assistants will be transferred to the Hogsmeade branch. Or, depending on how good they are, split up among the stores while the more experienced workers take the lead. And I made sure to employ muggleborn witches that have a great eye for colours and know how to give customers good advice. I'm going to copy the concept of successful fashion stores in the muggle world by offering the best kind of service. Something that is new to the Wizarding World," Harry explained grinning.

Hermione couldn't really refute that. And she liked that Harry gave some muggleborns, which were often disadvantaged, good jobs and perspectives for the future.

* * *

Harry was in discussion with Winky about optimising her work and cutting down on his costs in the production process. Winky had had a great idea, as one of her house elf friends had told her how he had seen how wool was turned into cloth, be it from sheep or from cotton wool plants. Winky needed a few more helpers to meet the demand, which had even surpassed Harry's best case scenario. The witches and wizards had basically stormed his shop in Diagon Alley when the new collection was on sale.

Thankfully he had smart assistants manning the shop and they had created a well-working system. Either, if the customer didn't want to wait, they could set up an appointment to have one assistant concentrating on them, which about half of the customers had happily done, being actually impressed with the offer existing. They could book the assistant for half an hour to an hour, which only cost them a small extra fee. But wealthy customers didn't mind that. Others that didn't want to pay for the service were directed to a small ticket machine, copied from the muggle world, to let the customer draw a number and the assistants would work through the customers in that order.

If you had a higher number, you could for example leave the shop to get some other purchases done, which gave the assistants more space to work. They had asked Harry to hire more workers, as the interest wasn't lessening at all after two weeks, and Harry had already held another day of job interviews and chosen two more muggleborns, one man and one woman, to start working on Monday. He had also asked Dobby if he knew any additional free house elves that were looking for work and had got two young elves that couldn't be kept by their former families.

They were sent to assist Winky to keep up with the demand. Winky was both training and supervising their work, as the chosen head elf for Bolt Fashion. Dobby was the general head elf for the Potter family elves. Dobby had also had the idea of setting up a small tea room with fashion magazines to read in the shop to make waiting less irritating for the customers. One of the other Potter elves kept the tea ready, together with biscuits, and it had proven to lessen the stress for the assistants and customers a lot.

"Alright, we can see if we can make this work, but we would need more house elves for the project, Winky," Harry agreed with his elf's proposal to create the materials needed for the clothes themselves to cut down on costs.

Buying the raw cotton wool and sheep wool was certainly much cheaper than having to buy the cloth, which had already put the costs for the production in it. And with magic it was very easy to achieve great quality if you knew what to do. And Winky had assured him that there were some more house elves that needed good new homes that knew how to do this. Many families, thanks to having taken the dark mark, were dwindling in numbers, therefore losing the ability to keep house elves bound to them. And if Harry acted quickly, he could snatch up a few of them for little gold, as the families that owned them would be happy to get the gold and let a number of unhappy elves go.

The Nott family had long since held a monopoly in the cloth supply industry in Great Britain, the magical part at least, and both of Theodore Nott's parents were among the patients that were losing their magic. His grandfather had died from the 'disease'.

"How would we go about getting the elves? The Death Eaters will hardly sell them to me after all," Harry asked.

"Oh, we only need to wait, Master Harry," Winky assured him, "All house elves feel when the magic that binds them becomes too weak. If Winky tells them that Master Harry is willing to take them on once they are free, they will come to Winky immediately so that you can bind them to the Potter family."

"So I wouldn't even need to pay gold to their families?" Harry asked.

"No. Only those from families that are good would need that. And Winky thinks that with the elves from the bad families we would for now have enough elves. You can still offer to buy elves that simply don't have work anymore to help the family out. It would make you look good in public, Master Harry," Winky told him.

She had learned a lot about public image and diplomacy while working for Barty Crouch. And she had been teaching Harry how to present himself to not only be taken serious by adults, but also how to avoid negative images. She knew that if anybody knew that she was the one designing the clothes, it would look bad and the sales would fall. Therefore, she wanted nobody but her master to know. If anybody found her working on a dress, she could say that she was one of the elves working for Harry, not a lie, and everybody would simply assume that after the design was decided upon, the house elves took care of getting the production done. Not that unusual in the wizarding world. Nobody would draw the right conclusions.

"Hm, if we get enough house elves, we could perhaps even grow our own cotton wool with time. Might be a project for the future. I know from the muggle world that clothes from natural sources are much higher regarded than synthetically made ones. I would think that it will be similar in the wizarding world. Perhaps some silk worm farm as well to add that material to our product range. Silk is the most expensive material we buy right now after all," Harry pondered.

"It's definitely worth looking into, Master Harry," Winky agreed.

"Well, keep me updated on the freed house elves front and spread the word that I'm willing to employ all the elves that need a new home. We definitely have more than enough work for them all," Harry told Winky.

"Winky will do so," She promised happily.

"I'm going to concentrate on the Versace show for the time being, please only call me if something really important comes up. With how this will also make my name known in the muggle world and open up roads to establish my brand there further, I need to concentrate on making sure that everything goes well," Harry said and Winky assured him that she would take care of everything.

* * *

Harry looked around the rooms given to the ones that were part of the fashion show with interest. As he was still considered a minor in the muggle world, he had asked Tonks if she would mind accompanying him. She had agreed immediately, as she was very curious how Harry's designs would be taken by muggles. The last month since his fashion show in London had given his shop a huge amount of traffic and the MLEP had to arrest some thieves that fell to the wards of the shop. Many thought that they could take advantage of a young entrepreneur and his probably lax security measures. They thought wrong. Harry had let Sirius, who had taken polyjuice potion to do the job, which he was grateful for, as it got him out of his hated house, set up anything that was legally allowed.

The Blacks with their paranoia knew more about wards of all kinds than even the goblins. By now Sirius could come over to help out at the shop in person. He had succeeded, with the help of Remus, to catch Peter, who couldn't transform into a rat anymore, as his magic level was too low for that. Ironically, the only reason why he wasn't a full squib yet was the life debt that he owed Harry. A healer at St. Mungo's had determined that the still open debt kept his magic, just a little of it, tied to his person. Sirius and Remus had caught him when he had left Knockturn Alley wearing a hooded robe. Overwhelming him was laughably easy, as his one actually impressive ability was turning into a rat. And that required much more magic than he had left.

He had been given veritaserum in front of the Wizengamot and it had started a whole avalanche of events. Madam Bones was not amused that the Minister had withheld important information from the DMLE and had tried to take law into his own hands, when the criminal was already apprehended and secured. Not to mention that brushing off the statements of eye-witnesses, no matter their age or if they had lycanthropy, was against the law. She especially exploded when she found out that Sirius had never had a trial. Fudge had claimed the Black case under his authority and had kept all files locked up in his office. It was clear from the files that there hadn't even been a proper interrogation after he had been arrested.

It got Sirius his freedom back, plus a large amount of gold in compensation for his suffering unjustly at Azkaban. Right now Sirius was at St. Mungo's for treatment. He would be let go on Christmas eve, which was why he couldn't come today.

"It's different to your own fashion show," Tonks commented.

"Well, this is an established designer's show after all. I'm a newcomer in the business," Harry replied.

None of them commented that the special effects from his show couldn't be replicated without magic. Not in reality at least. It would be different in movies. With computers a lot of things were possible now.

"Ah, Mr Potter, nice to see you again," The Scout that had asked if he would do a joint fashion show with Versace greeted him.

"Mr Napla, good to see you as well. This is my cousin, Dora Tonks. She agreed to accompany me, as my guardian was indisposed tonight," Harry introduced them, "Dora, this is Mr Napla, the scout that asked if I wanted to create a special collection of jewellery just for this fashion show."

"Nice to meet you, Mr Napla," Tonks said dutifully and shook the man's hand, who returned the greeting.

"Mr Versace is busy with the last minute preparations currently, but he told me to ask you to meet him after the show. He was very impressed with the designs you came up with after he sent you the designs for the clothes that will be presented tonight. Especially the ones that you only had a general description of what he wanted," Mr Napla informed Harry.

"I'm happy to hear that. It was fun and a challenge to match my designs to those of another designer," Harry replied.

"The show starts in twenty minutes. You will only be required to appear on stage for the final walk, when both you and Mr Versace will present yourselves to the audience. For the rest of the show, we have reserved a private balcony for sponsors to enjoy the show. An assistant will come and inform you when it is time to come down to the stage," Mr Napla explained.

"That's fine. Thank you, Mr Napla," Harry agreed and then followed the assistant that waited for them to the balcony.

* * *

Once they reached the balcony, many eyes looked at them questioningly, but Harry met them with a charming smile, which he had practiced for some hours in front of the mirror, and introduced himself. A good number of them were now interested in finding out more about him and his brand, which led to him making more contacts and exchanging business cards. Harry always carried some with him for just this purpose.

Finally, it was time for the show to start and Harry and Tonks took their seats. Harry also had a notebook out to make notes on what kind of dresses would be presented at the show, which could serve as an inspiration for his own shops. While he currently mostly concentrated on the magical side, he did have a number of shops in big cities in the muggle world as well. Their assortment just wasn't as large as it was in the wizarding world. But he guessed that his jewellery assortment would gain a lot more prominence after this show.

* * *

Tonks watched how easily Harry talked with Versace and some other big names in the fashion scene after the show was over. It had been different to the show Harry had held at his shop, but no less impressive. Especially if you considered that it was all done without magic. The dresses were simply a dream, but she knew that most were out of her price range. But that was okay. She had seen how Harry wrote down things that he liked and she would bet that similar dresses and clothes would be available in his shop in the near future.

She got to talk with a few others around there as well including some of the models that had presented the clothes. It was interesting to find out how disciplined you had to be in this kind of job and how hard the competition was. Super models might earn large amounts of money, but they also had to really look out what they ate each day and keep fit to manage. They also had little free time, as they could be called for jobs all over the world at a moment's notice. The job came with benefits and disadvantages alike.

Still, seeing her cousin shamelessly flirting with one of the younger models, a pretty brunette that had seemingly decided to tease Harry, but which didn't work out like she had imagined, was great. She would have so much that she could tell Sirius and Remus once they were back. Harry probably wouldn't, for fear of being teased mercilessly by the two Marauders. She made sure to make some photos with a muggle camera. She could after all easily develop the film with the needed potion to let them move afterwards.

Harry also got a few more offers and orders for jewellery, which he wrote down in his notebook and promised to have the deliveries ready at the end of the Christmas break. His business really seemed to be taking off well. She just hoped that it would continue. She really did. Harry had had enough problems in his life and he deserved this success that wasn't fraud with danger to his life. If only Dumbledore would stop interfering.

* * *

After the fashion show in Dublin, Tonks took Harry back to Grimmauld Place. Sirius would be out of St. Mungo's the next day and she couldn't wait for him to hear how Harry's first involvement into a muggle fashion show had gone. Harry certainly had many orders to get done now, but he had told her that he could easily manage. Once he had finished a design, he could let his house elves work on preparing the required number of copies. When asked how he could afford that many precious stones, he had just grinned and claimed a business secret.

Contrary to the summer, when there hadn't been many rooms ready for inhabitation and the teenagers had needed to share rooms, this time around, the rooms were all cleaned out and safe to use. Sirius had also made sure to bring one of the family bedrooms up to date and had given it to Harry, well, more like told Tonks to let Harry sleep there when he was back from school, as he was still hospitalised. Tonks certainly approved of his actions and Harry appreciated finally having a real room of his own. The one at Privet Drive had always been his cousin's second bedroom, never his.

He had immediately decided to put the spell Sirius had put onto the walls to good use. Sirius, not knowing which colour Harry would prefer his walls to be, had put a voice activated colour changing charm onto them, keyed to Harry's voice. Two passwords could activate the charm and lock the result. Harry loved it, as it also allowed him to change the look of his room whenever he felt like having a change, without having to invest loads of work with painting the walls in the colour he wanted. At the moment he had locked the walls at a crème colour and had the curtains of his four poster bed in a dark blue. The ceiling was changed to be a different colour than the walls. Sirius had interestingly put a separate charm on each of the walls and the ceiling. At night Harry had the ceiling show a dark background with white, softly glowing stars. He had always loved the sight of a night sky with lots of stars on it.

Within a few minutes he was ready for bed, as it had been a long day. When he had arrived, Winky had made sure that his clothes and other possessions, which he had had in his school trunk, were all put away neatly and then returned to her work. She was deliriously happy to have such an important job and even have a number of other house elves following her orders for Bolt Fashion matters. Harry was just looking forward to his first real family Christmas in his life.

* * *

When Sirius arrived the next day, he looked a lot better than before. He had again filled out and a good deal of the haunted look he had given before was gone. It wasn't fully dealt with, there still were noticeable traces, but a lot fewer than before. Harry greeted him happily and told him about his success with the combined fashion show in Dublin and how many orders for jewellery he had got from the guests there. Many also had a hard time taking in that a fifteen years old teenager was the one creating the 'Creative and Gorgeous Gems', simply as a hobby at the beginning.

Of course Tonks had to add her two cents and Sirius got a good laugh from her descriptions of Harry shamelessly turning the tables on the models that thought they could make him blush and stutter when they flirted with him. After a good breakfast, Anny, one of the new house elves that Harry had hired and who had been asked to take care of Grimmauld Place, as Kreacher couldn't be relied on, had made pancakes and waffles, as she knew that her master loved anything that could be eaten with treacle, Sirius took Harry with him to select decoration for the Christmas tree and the remainder of the house.

They spent the rest of the morning first getting a Christmas tree from the forest, they couldn't really decide which one to take and needed until lunch to have compromised on one they both liked. In the afternoon they continued with putting up decorations around the house, with Sirius teaching Harry wizarding Christmas songs, some of them Harry was sure he had made up. But his good mood was infectious and he was happy like never before. Ally made sure that they had biscuits and tea after they were done and the two were truly proud how the house looked like. There were two large socks next to the fireplace, with four smaller ones a bit father to the right. The two large ones were of course for Harry and Sirius, the smaller ones for the only remaining relatives of Sirius that he could stand, his cousin Andromeda Tonks and her family as well as Remus Lupin.

Remus had promised to come over to spend Christmas with them and the Tonks were invited for dinner. They spent the rest of the afternoon and the evening exchanging stories, some they had experienced and some that Sirius had been told when he had been a kid. They went to bed around ten, to be able to get up early for Christmas. Both were looking forward to the day.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore nursed a glass of firewhiskey. It was the afternoon of Christmas Eve. He normally didn't take to drinking that kind of strong drinks, but he decided that the occasion required it. He had just got a report from the healers at St. Mungo's. As one of his teachers was treated there for the mystery disease, he managed to be kept updated on how all the patients were doing. And up until yesterday there had only been five Death Eaters, including Severus Snape, that still had had magic. Ever since the early hours of the morning that number was down to zero. Severus Snape was a squib. Others in the early phase of the disease being noticed had died. Nothing the healers tried could stop the drain on their magic, they just had found a way to prevent the victims dying from the problem after the first two weeks of the problem being noticed. As long as they reported to St. Mungo's of course. The ones staying at their homes often didn't manage it.

It was a hard blow for their country, even if few people would acknowledge that fact. It only showed how far the cancer of Tom's ideology had grown into the oldest families of their country. Not to mention that the first number had died by the hands of Harry Potter, when he had been kidnapped at the end of the Triwizard Tournament. But that was chalked off as self-defence under duress. While he had tried to make Harry see that the use of those spells wasn't something he should pursue, the boy had ignored him and dared to ask how else he would have been able to survive that kind of odds against him.

Miracles didn't happen twice and only a fast wand and shocking the opponent could let you get away with your life. And Alastor had been on the boy's side in that, actually praising how he had kept his head under fire.

With the loss of their magic, they would be unable to keep their jobs or positions of influence. It would mean that others would take over and with their different opinions came a change of direction. Normally he wouldn't have cared, it could only be positive if extreme dark leanings disappeared, but the number of people that were replaced would make this shift too abrupt. Their society wasn't good at dealing with major changes. They needed time. Time they wouldn't get. Squibs, by law, weren't acceptable as heads of a family. And most families that had lost their family heads now only had underage heirs, leaving their spots open until they graduated from Hogwarts.

A vacuum of power that others would attempt to fill before the children could even try to continue the path of their parents. But it also painted a clear vision of what would happen in a few years, when they were old enough to take their positons. Squabbling at the Wizengamot over the tiniest issues, as the heirs would try to get their way with blunt demands, like they were used to up until now. Just that there wouldn't be anybody letting them get away with it, as the power of their parents was already lost. The opinions of squibs held no swing in their world. All laws were against them. Then businesses having to deal with inexperienced owners, after all the laws also didn't allow squibs to own or lead businesses in the magical world. All his work towards changing that in the past had been laughed off by the ones that now suffered from it. He didn't like it.

When he had just poured his glass anew, his floo activated.

"Albus, you have to come and see this!" Healer Cartwright called from the flames.

"What happened Jeremiah?" He asked.

"It's unbelievable. Come through please. I can't believe it myself. The dark marks on all our patients' arms, they are fading!" The healer exclaimed.

"What? I'm coming through directly," Dumbledore declared and the healer's head disappeared, his glass with whiskey forgotten on his desk, "St. Mungo's Hospital, Healer Cartwright's office."

With those words he stepped into the green flames and was taken to the hospital. When he arrived, Jeremiah Cartwright, the leading healer for the disease, took him to one of the rooms where the patients were kept.

"It's unbelievable. We have been monitoring the patients, as we feared that becoming a squib might not be the end of the tragic disease, but just ten minutes ago, the nurses that were on watch all came running to my office, reporting the fading of the marks, Albus," Cartwright said.

"Could you determine any reason?" Dumbledore asked.

"We have some theories, but not enough proof," Was the answer.

When they entered the first room, Dumbledore recognised a number of Death Eaters that all looked unresponsive.

"We noticed that the speed was slow in the beginning. But with each victim that lost his magic or died, the speed increased. We suspect, based on your reports about the return of You-Know-Who in June, which the Ministry really should have taken serious, that something with the ritual had delayed effects. He has been drawing magic from his followers and anything else he could access. We have suspicions about dark artefacts, as he was known to collect them. It is possible to use imbibed magic from such devices to keep yourself alive in emergency situations. It's documented in medical research.

"The dark mark has been known to be a direct line through which he could contact his followers at the end of the last war. Now it seems that whatever hit him, was too much for him to deal with just working on his own magic. He drew any magic he could into his body, but it wasn't enough," Cartwright explained.

Dumbledore inspected the left arms, which were all laid bare to let the healers notice if there were any changed in the focus point of the disease, and saw what Healer Cartwright meant when he said it was fading. There was only the faintest outline left. That could only mean one thing.

"He's close to death. Much closer than when he lost his body after he killed Lily and James and couldn't kill Harry," He spoke.

"We thought the same. We can't prove it fully, as the Ministry is still denying everything, even with the number of Death Eaters that all were hospitalised because of this sickness, but I would say with some certainty that, as soon as these marks are gone forever, we will be rid of You-Know-Who for good this time," Healer Cartwright stated.

"That would be the only good part of this tragedy. No matter what kind of mistakes these people made, to lose your magic is too hard a punishment," Dumbledore sighed.

"Well, at least they might escape Azkaban. No matter what Amelia Bones and Rufus Scrimgeour tried, Fudge was stubborn and didn't want to hear anything about a possible involvement of these people in crimes, they were all 'upstanding pureblood citizens'. Well, not so much magical anymore now. Things will change and I for one, am glad that we can finally get some better people into their spots. Their children normally have at least three years until they graduate from your school. Try drilling some sense into them. We don't need a repeat of the seventies and early eighties, Albus. This is a great chance for our country. We haven't been drawn into a war again. We should use that," Cartwright commented.

"I will certainly try. I will be busy over the next few days. I need to find a new Potions Master, now that I can't keep Severus employed anymore," He sighed.

"Well, he never produced good results. We had a lot of trouble getting enough candidates for healer training. His own knowledge and skills none withstanding, the man wasn't a teacher, Albus. I would have rather had him do research and publish his results than dealing with him teaching innocent children with his kind of temper. I would have happily let him be part of our research department, if you hadn't kept him on a short leash. I know you had your reasons, but in the end, it harmed the students. Just some food for thought. Look for a person that can actually teach first and with brilliance about the subject second," Cartwright stated his opinion.

Dumbledore didn't have it in him to actually defend his former Potions teacher anymore. Too many things were happening now and the only good part was that the threat of Voldemort would soon be gone. Well, perhaps it was time that he let Minerva take over. He suddenly felt very old. People had been giving him trouble for months now and all his plans for the future, the way he thought Voldemort needed to be defeated, had all been wrong. Harry hadn't needed to face off against him. It seemed, it had been enough that he got rid of the horcrux in his scar, which an established potion, used in a new way, had achieved, when all his books on the topic had declared it impossible. When he had given up on finding a way to save the boy. He had worried about being able to find all the other horcruxes, find out what they were, how many more there were and he was still just at the beginning of his investigations. Now that was a moot point.

It seemed that in his desperation to get enough magic to survive in his new body, he had also drained his horcruxes of their magic. It being his own magic made them ready recipients of his draining actions. Probably not even intentional. Tom feared death more than anything. The feeling of his magic leaving him, bringing him closer to death, must have caused a subconscious reaction. The mark wouldn't fade if there was still even one horcrux left.

He was really too old to continue like this. Perhaps he could return to Godric's Hollow and spend the rest of his days there in peace, writing books about Alchemy and Transfiguration. He certainly still had a lot of things he could pass on to the next generation. Occasional visits to his beloved Hogwarts would also certainly keep him in high spirits. He would discuss things with Minerva when he returned. And he had to send an owl to the members of the Order to spread the good part of the news.

* * *

Sirius read the letter from the owl that had arrived in the morning, just after they had had breakfast. He and Harry hadn't been able to wait with opening their presents and had made a huge mess out of the lounge where the Christmas tree was located. Well, Sirius more than Harry. He had to read the letter twice to really believe what it said. Then a huge grin appeared in his face.

"Hey, Harry, really good news!" He announced.

"What's the matter, Sirius?" Harry asked curiously.

"Voldemort is dead!" Sirius cheered, "And Snivellus is a squib. For some reason Dumbledore is sorry about that."

"Really?" Harry asked excitedly, "They will finally leave me alone?"

"Yes. Dumbledore has called for a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix for the twenty seventh, as he wants to let us all enjoy Christmas. He just wanted to tell us the most important good and bad news in short form beforehand. Well, I only consider it good news," Sirius commented.

"Yes! I'm finally free!" Harry cheered, jumping around the room, "No more death traps and people trying to push me into directions I don't want to"

"This calls for a celebratory drink. I'll get some bottle of elven wine from the basement," Sirius declared, but the bottle appeared on the table, together with two glasses.

"Thank you Anny!" Sirius called out. He loved that new elf. Soon he had the glasses filled and handed one of them to Harry. "To a glorious and peaceful future!"

"To the future!" Harry repeated and both drank the wine, which Harry decided he certainly liked a lot.

He had trouble believing it, but this would be the turning point for his future. And he had done nothing to get the undeserved fame this time around. There were still problems in their world, but the adults could deal with them now. He was just a normal teenager, one that had great plans for his future. He would build up his business and become a very rich man. But now that the dark shadow over him was gone, it would be a lot easier than before.

This would certainly be a Christmas he would always keep in mind, as long as he lived.

The beginning of a new life, with family, friends and a safer world, with the extremists being largely decimated, simply because they allowed a maniac to brand them like cattle. Well, he could easily live with that.

Now he only had to convince Hermione to lay off his study schedules. Well, you couldn't have everything.

* * *

 **I know that there are a few loose ends from here on, but not enough to make a full chapter on them. I leave it to your imagination how this might develop :)**


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